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6th Arkansas Field Battery
}} The 6th Arkansas Field Battery (1862–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. Also known as: the Washington Artillery and Etter's Battery. The Washington Artillery spent its entire existence in the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, serving in Arkansas and Louisiana. Organization After the Battle of Pea Ridge, General Earl Van Dorn was ordered to move his Army of the West across the Mississippi River and cooperate with Confederate forces in Northern Mississippi. Van Dorn stripped the state of military hardware of all types, including almost all the serviceable artillery. When General Thomas C. Hindman arrived on May 31, 1862, to assume command of the new Trans-Mississippi District, he found almost no organized troops to command. He quickly began organizing new regiments, but his most pressing need was for arms for the new forces he was organizing, including the artillery. With Hindman's first order, dated May 31, 1862 at Little Rock, he announced his staff, including the appointment of Major Francis A. Shoup, Chief of Artillery.Howerton, Bryan R. "Hindman's First Order", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, posted 21 August 2004, Accessed 15 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/arch_config.pl?read=8219 Shoup had served as chief of artillery under General William J. Hardee. Hindman was almost totally destitute of military quality weapons and could hardly arm or issue ammunition to the few troops that he had in June 1862. Until the shipments of arms in August 1862, General Hindman struggled to arm his conscripts.Taylor, Doyle, "Re: Arms availability in the Trans-Mississippi", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 31 January 2004, Accessed 15 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/arch_config.pl?read=6467 When General Hindman discovered that Brigadier General Albert Pike, commanding the Indian Territory, had ten Parrott Guns located at Fort Washita which could not be used for lack of limbers and harnesses, he dispatched a detachment of the 24th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, under Captain L. P. Dodge to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to bring the artillery to Camp White Sulphur Springs, near Pine Bluff.Edward, "Re: Artillery Transfers" Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 16 May 2004, Accessed 17 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/arch_config.pl?read=7391 }} The Washington Artillery was organized at Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas, on June 14, 1862, by Captain Chambers Brady Etter. Chambers had previously served in the Hempstead Rifles, a volunteer militia company from the 8th Regiment of Arkansas Militia which became Company B, 3rd Regiment, Arkansas State Troops. Apparently some effort was made to provide the battery with conscripts from Hempstead County, but these men had already been assigned to Colonel Grinstead's 33rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment. General Hindman directed the enrolling agents from surrounding counties to turn over sufficient numbers of conscripts to bring Etter's battery up to 150 men. The records of the Washington Artillery are highly fragmentary. One muster roll survives, dated January 7, 1863, "in Camp at Little Rock," when the battery was stationed on the grounds of St. John’s College. This roll probably only lists a third of the men who actually served with the Washington Artillery during the war. From other sources, such as prisoner-of-war records, pension applications, and postwar reminiscences, an expanded, but certainly a non-authoritative roster of most of the men has been developed. The battery was later designated as the 6th Arkansas Field Battery.Gerdes, Edward G., "Organization of the Artillery in 1864", Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Page, Accessed 2 June 2010, http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/artillry.html Battles The unit took an active part in the conflicts at Helena, Bayou Fourche, Sabine Cross Roads, and Pleasant Hill. It was assigned to W. R. Bradfute's, R. G. Shaver's, and Fagan's Brigade, and later W. D. Blocher's Battalion of Artillery, Trans-Mississippi Department. On July 1, 1862, General Hindman ordered the new unit to move immediately to Little Rock,Copybook of Letters and Orders from Thomas Hindman's command, 1 June - 12 Dec. 1862, Page, 58, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmack&CISOPTR=10681&REC=2&CISOBOX=Etter but apparently upon learning that the battery was still unarmed, he sent an order to Captain L. P. Dodge which stated, Captain Dodge had been sent on July 7, 1862, to Fort McCulloch, in Indian Territory to retrieve ten Parrot Guns which Gen Pike had there. It was expected to be several weeks before he completed his mission.Copybook of Letters and Orders from Thomas Hindman's command, 1 June - 12 Dec. 1862, Page, 68, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmack&CISOPTR=10681&REC=2&CISOBOX=Etter On July 25, 1862 General Hindman send an order to Captain Etter directing him to assign a Lieutenant to duty as acting Assistant Quarter Master and Act’g ACS to purchase supplies at fair prices. Hindman informed Etter that it was too late assign conscripts from Hempstead County to Etter's battery because these men had already been assigned to Col Grindstead's command. Hindman directed the enrolling officer of any adjacent county to turn over a sufficient number of conscripts to raise Etter organization to 150 men.Copybook of Letters and Orders from Thomas Hindman's command, 1 June - 12 Dec. 1862, Page, 108, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmack&CISOPTR=10681&REC=2&CISOBOX=Etter At the end of September 1862, several orders were issued by General Hindman regarding a movement of Etter's Battery, along with other forces northward to counter and expected Federal push into Northwest Arkansas. On September 9, 1862, Hindman inquired of the telegraph operator at Arkadelphia “Has Etter’s battery from Washington passed you yet–has Speight’s regt passed, has Waterhouse’s Tex regt reached there yet?” On September 28, Hindman issued Special Order #39 which directed Etter's Ark battery to move at once to Elkhorn, and report to Brigadier Gen J. S. Rains. On September 30, 1862 General Hindman directed the telegraph operator at Rockport “If Col Speight has arrived tell him to hasten forward with his reg’t to this place asap When Etter’s btry arrives give him same instructions.” Whether Etter was able to respond to General Hindman’s repeated urgings to move the front is unclear because on October 6, 1862, Etter was ordered to turn over all of his current guns to Col John Dunnington, Chief of the Ordnance Department at the Little Rock Arsenal. Dunnington was ordered to furnish Etter with a new battery.Copybook of Letters and Orders from Thomas Hindman's command, 1 June – 12 Dec. 1862, Page, 206, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmack&CISOPTR=10681&REC=2&CISOBOX=Etter The reason for this reorganization is unclear, but it apparently led to the battery missing the Prairie Gove Campaign. The organization of the 1st Corps as given in General Hindman’s Special Order No.51 dated 24 November 1862 shows Etter’s Battery assigned to Bradfute’s Brigade of four regiments of Texas dismounted cavalry,Copybook of Special Orders from Thomas Hindman's Command, 01 Jun. – 18 Dec. 1862., Page, 124, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/page_text.php?CISOROOT=/mack&CISOPTR=9555&CISOBOX=1&OBJ=9578&ITEM=188 but the after action reports of the Battle of Prairie Gove do not list Etter's Battery as having participated.Shea, William. Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8078-3315-5l. An examination of the CSR’s for the men of Etter’s Battery shows a company return for December 1862. Cards for various members of the battery indicate that they were at Little Rock from October to December 1862 (and probably into January 1863). Of the approximately seventy men listed in the battery, the December return shows twelve were either sick or had died, another five had deserted and four were assigned to wagon driving duties. During the same period of time the battery had received only two new enlistments. Additionally, a card for Lt. John C. Arnett states that he left the company on the December 4, 1862 on recruiting duty. Take together, these circumstances may indicate that the unit was struggling to have enough men to man the guns and that this was the reason the battery was left behind for the Prairie Grove campaign.Osborne, Phil, "Re: Etter's Arkansas Battery", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 3/11/2013, Accessed 7 June 2013, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=27983 When General Holmes reported on the organization of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi on December 12, 1862, five days after the Battle of Prairie Grove, he listed Etter's Battery as belonging to Bradfute's Brigade of dismounted Texas Cavalry, of Brigadier General Roan's Division of Major General Hindman's First Corps.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 22, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports., Book, 1888; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154600/m1/906/?q=west's arkansas battery : accessed January 14, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. The battery spent the spring and early summer of 1863 in an artillery camp with the other batteries of Major W. E. Woodruff's artillery battalion near St. John’s College in Little Rock. Woodruff was assigned as the Chief of Artillery to Major General D. M. Frost's Division. Woodruff's Artillery Battalion at this time was composed of Etter's Battery, Marshall's Battery, and Blocher's Arkansas Batteries and Tildent and Ruffner's Missouri Batteries and Edgar's Texas Battery. This spring encampment was the only time during the war that Woodruff's Battalion was able to actually practice the artillery drill as a battalion, since the units most usually fought as independent batteries or even sections.With The Light Guns In ’61-’65: Reminiscences of Eleven Arkansas, Missouri and Texas Light Batteries, in the Civil War, Pages 94–96, Accessed 5 June 2013, at Hathi Trust Digital Library, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89059402198 In preparation for the Confederate attack on Union positions at Helena Arkansas on July 4, 1863, Etter’s Battery was assigned to Brigadier General James F. Fagan’s 2nd Brigade of Major General Sterling Price’s Division of Lieutenant General Theophilus H. Holmes’s District of Arkansas, in Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith’s Trans-Mississippi Department. General John F. Fagan commanded an infantry brigade with a detachment of cavalry. The brigade consisted of the 34th, 35th and 37th and Hawthorn’s Arkansas Infantry. He also had Miller’s Company, Arkansas Cavalry, Densons’ Company, Louisiana Cavalry and the four-gun batteries of Etter and Blocker. General Fagan detached on section of Etter’s Battery to support Colonel William H. Brooks, who had been directed to take his 34th Arkansas Infantry Regiment along with Captain Miller’s and Captain Densons’ cavalry companies to conduct a feint to the south of Helena in order to tie down Federal Troops and protect Fagan’s right flank. This section of Etter’s battery would engage in a brisk duel with federal artillery and the Union gunboat, the tinclad U.S.S. Tyler. After expending thirteen rounds, Lieutenant Arnett was compelled to withdraw his gun.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 22, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports., Book, 1888; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154600/m1/433/?q=Etter Arkansas Battery : accessed July 17, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas.Report of Lieutenant General Holmes of the battle of Helena, Confederate States of America War Department, Published by Order of Congress, (R.M. Smith, Richmond, 1864) Accessed 17 July 2013, Google Books, http://books.google.com/books?id=bFgGLG_ZBNMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=Brooks%20&f=false Following the Battle of Helena, General Price issued Special Orders Number 113 on July 27, 1863 which ordered Captain Etter with the remaining section of his battery to report to General Fagan, who intern was ordered ordered to reunite the two sections of the battery. During the Federal Campaign in the Summer of 1863 to take Little Rock, Captain Etter’s Battery was reassigned to support Colonel Dobbins’ Arkansas Cavalry Brigade of Walker’s Cavalry Division. Etter's battery was one of the few units that contested the corssion of the Arkansas River by Union forces that would eventually lead to the fall of Little Rock.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 22, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports., Book, 1888; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154600/m1/527/?q=Etter Arkansas Battery : accessed July 17, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas. After the fall of Little Rock, Etter’s Battery was reassigned to support Brigadier General James C. Tappan’s brigade of Brigadier General Thomas James Churchill’s Arkansas Division. In the Spring of 1864, the battery, along with Tappan’s Brigade moved south into Louisiana in order to counter Union movements in the Red River Campaign. United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 34, In Four Parts. Part 1, Reports., Book, 1892; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146033/m1/595/?q=Etter Arkansas Battery : accessed July 17, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas. }} Following the Battle of Pleasant Hill, the battery remained in Louisiana for a time to assist with continuing attacks on Union naval forces attempting to withdrawal down the Red River. The battery is next mentioned in a report from Brigadier General Churchill detailing the forces under his command on September 1, 1864:United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 41, In Four Parts. Part 3, Correspondence, etc., Book, 1893; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145055/m1/904/?q=Etter Arkansas Battery : accessed July 17, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas. On September 11, 1864, Brigadier General Churchill issued Special Order Number 72 from Camp Yell which mentioned Etter’s Battery:United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 41, In Four Parts. Part 3, Correspondence, etc., Book, 1893; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145055/m1/924/?q=Etter Arkansas Battery : accessed July 17, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas. In General E. Kirby Smith’s September 30, 1864 report on the Organization of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi Department, Etter’s Battery is listed as belonging to the 8th Mounted Artillery Battalion, along with Edgar's (Texas) battery.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 41, In Four Parts. Part 3, Correspondence, etc., Book, 1893; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145055/m1/971/?q=Etter Arkansas Battery : accessed July 17, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas. On November 19, 1864, General Smith’s issued Special Orders Number 290 from Shreveport, La., which reorganized the Artillery of the Army of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi:United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 41, In Four Parts. Part 4, Correspondence, etc., Book, 1893; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145061/m1/1064/?q=Etter Arkansas Battery : accessed July 17, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas. On December 31, 1864, General E. Kirby Smith listed the battery as belonging to Blocher's Artillery Battalion of Acting Major General Churchill's First Infantry Division of Major General John B. Magruder's Second Army Corps, Army of the Trans-Mississippi.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 41, In Four Parts. Part 4, Correspondence, Etc., Book, 1893; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145061/m1/1145/?q=zimmerman : accessed April 02, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. Toward the end of the war, the Washington Artillery was converted to siege artillery, manning 8-inch Columbiads and siege guns at Grand Ecore and Alexandria, Louisiana. Surrender The battery was surrendered with General Kirby Smith’s army on May 26, 1865. The date of the military convention between Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith and Union General Edward Canby for the surrender of the troops and public property in the Trans-Mississippi Department was May 26, 1865, however, it took awhile for parole commissioners to be appointed and for public property to be accounted for. As a result, a final report of field artillery which was part of the accounting process, was not completed until June 1, 1865.Howerton, Bryan R., "Re: Trans-Mississippi artillery report" Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 19 December 2012, Accessed 20 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=27566 According to the final accounting, at the time of the surrender, the battery serving heavy guns at Grand Ecore and Alexandria, La.Howerton, Bryan R. "Trans-Mississippi artillery report", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 6 September 2007, Accessed 19 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=16548United States. War Dept.. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 48, In Two Parts. Part 2, Correspondence, etc., Book, 1896; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139841/m1/964/?q=Zimmerman : accessed August 04, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas. The remnants of the battery surrendered at Alexandria, Louisiana, June 4, 1865. See also * List of Arkansas Civil War Confederate units * Lists of American Civil War Regiments by State * Confederate Units by State * Arkansas in the American Civil War * Arkansas Militia in the Civil War Notes * References * Confederate States of America., Holmes, T. H., Hill, A. P., & Stevenson, C. L. (1864). Report of Lieutenant General Holmes of the battle of Helena: Also, report of Lieutenant General A.P. Hill of the battle of Bristoe station : also, report of Major General Stevenson of expedition into east Tennessee. Richmond: R.M. Smith, public printer. * Shea, W. L. (2009). Fields of blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. * Sikakis, Stewart, Compendium of the Confederate Armies, Florida and Arkansas, Facts on File, Inc., 1992, ISBN 0-8160-2288-7 * United States. (1961). Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers who served in organizations from the State of Arkansas. Washington [D.C.: National Archives, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. * U.S. War Department, [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html ''The War of the Rebellion]: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901. Category:Arkansas Confederate Civil War regiments Category:Military units and formations in Arkansas Category:Military in Arkansas